On Being Responsible Killers - a guest post by Jane Lebak

Writers are no strangers to death. Neither are our characters. It hurts, but sometimes we have to kill one of them.

https://twitter.com/LianaBrooks/status/620705651052773376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Back during my college days, while drifting to sleep, I thought about how the Bible says humans are made in the image of God, and then I thought about how each us us to some extent reverse engineers what God might be like based on what we’re like.

(This is what happens when you double-major in English and Religious Studies. I mean, in addition to having all those high-paying jobs laid out at your feet.)

So with a total arrogance typical for me back when I was a college student, I modified Jesus’s question: “Who would my characters say that I am?”

Ooh, that was fun. I imagined a court room and put my favorite characters on the witness stand. Each one testified under oath as to my personality and values. I kept them in character, but I had them make their judgments based on how their own stories had unfolded. And not just my recent characters: I went back to characters I’d written when I was twelve and thirteen.

The character from my high fantasy testified that I was ruthless and valued success. Another
character said I was a loner who valued community, but didn’t fit into it. A third character said I set tests and expected you to learn from your trials.

Then a minor character from a fanfic took the stand. I hadn’t thought of him for ages, not since I’d written the story where he’d appeared.

He trembled with anger. “Jane doesn’t care. She created me only to use me, have my life benefit someone else, and then leave me destroyed.”

So much for drifting off to sleep.

I wanted to hug him and hold him and tell him it wasn’t true; I wanted to reassure him that I cared about my characters — except he was right. That was exactly what I had done to him. He suffered, and that had been his only purpose. He was expendable.

I wanted to defend myself, and honestly, I couldn’t.

I lay awake when I should have been sleeping, analyzing the way I used characters in stories. I’d invented the “Red-shirt” without yet knowing what one was. My little guy was right.

The more I thought about it, the more my character’s accusation changed the way I write. I lowered my overall body count. I’ve made sure that even if a character has to die, he gets a fair shake all along; he gets a personality; he gets a purpose; at the very least, he has a chance.

Stories being what they are, sometimes characters have to die, but as writers and as readers, we need to handle it the right way. The death of a character isn’t a ploy for easy emotion. When a character dies, it needs to be a fulfillment so while we as readers may feel sad, there’s also a certain rightness to it. It’s an end, but it’s an end the character himself or herself might have endorsed. “I died doing what I wanted to do.” Or better yet, “I died being who I truly am.” Not that their life was taken, but that they gave it. And in doing so, gave life to someone else in the book and in some ways gave life to the reader.

It’s a testimony to good writing that these characters mean so much. But to mean so much to the reader, they need to mean much to the writer, and that means treating their lives – and their potential deaths – with respect.

Jane Lebak talks to angels, cats, and her kids. Only the angels listen to her, but the kids talk back. She lives in the Swamp, writing books and knitting socks, with the occasional foray into violin-playing. You’ll also find her blogging at QueryTracker.net, a resource for writers seeking agents and small publishers

MeanKitty Interviews Liana Brooks

A week or so ago I said I was looking for guest bloggers, and one daring soul piped up and asked if I wanted to be interviewed by her cat. I didn't see a reason to say no, so here it is, my interview with Meankitty, the star of www.jodywallace.com. I'm sure Jody doesn't mind sharing the spotlight. 

Meankitty Wants To Know...
1) Why did you decide to be a writer instead of a cat sanctuary owner?

Hmmm.... good question. I think it’s because I had four cats in high school and wanted to try something else. Also, bad books do not poo on my bed or pee in my shoes when angry.

2) Why do you think cats are better than Mastiff puppies and beta fish?
(Since you call yourself a writer, I trust your answer will be eloquent.)

Oh, dear, let’s see.... Cats are much better at being felines, they travel better than mastiffs or fish (especially on airplanes), and they are excellent at eating mice. Mastiffs only step on mice and then leave you mouse pancakes to pick up. Meankitty should consider getting a mastiff for a chef. They make excellent mouse pancakes.

3) Why is your household currently deprived of a cat?

Sadly, most cats would fit into the mouth of our mastiff, and the puppy hasn’t yet learned how strong she is. Also, the position of Diva And Tyrant is filled by our four-year-old, Tyranna Regina, who believes she owns the universe and all things therein. A cat would only be competition, and the four-year-old bites competition for attention.

4) Tell me about the felines in your fiction. How often do they appear and
how big a part do they play in your narratives? Are any of your VILLAINS cat
owners, because they should be.

None of my villains are cat owners, they are minion owners because pets require too much selfless love for villains. However, you will be pleased to know that I have a series where cats are the heroes. Several of the heroes are tigers, but at least one of them is a common tabby cat, his name is Baldric and he is very good at research. There are currently four books planned in that series, which I hope will appease the Meankitty fandom.

5) On the off-chance you have yet to incorporate cats into your fiction,
when or how do you plan to rectify this egregious error and demonstration of
poor writing skills?

The first book in the Cat series is due out in 2018, if the stars align properly.

6) What are your favorite works of fiction or cinema involving cats or
favorite fictional cats?

I love THE CAT WHO TALKS TO GHOSTs, because who wouldn’t love a crime solving cat? But my favorite fictional cats are the twenty-some cats the witch Morwen lives with in the the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Not only are those cats sassy, and able to turn a rabbit into a flying blue donkey, but they also have healing powers. They’re quite lovely cats.

7) Do you have any amazing, or at least humorous, real life cat stories
you'd like to share? Barring cat stories, you may share stories about your
Mastiff puppy embarrassing itself if you like.

My first cat was a black stray named Javiera, who wandered through my open bedroom window and had kittens on my parents bed when I was a toddler. Although the kittens were rehomed, Javiera and her friend Fluffy (a Persian) lived out the rest of their lives with me.

My favorite kitten though was Paisley, a calico manx. She was the result of an unwanted pregnancy (spay and neuter your pets!), and the person who had her planned to feed the kitten to the snake. I asked to play with Paisley, stuck her in my coat pocket, and told the woman that the kitten had run into the shrubs. Then I smuggled her upstairs to my bedroom and wouldn’t let her out for a week. I’m happy to say my mother let me keep Paisley, and she’s still living with my mom today (I wasn’t allowed to take her to college and Old Lady Cats do not like infants).

I do have funny puppy stories, but it’s mostly about mastiffs running and not being able to stop before they hit – and break – the fence.

8) How do your puppy and your fish get along?

Spike, the beta fish, tolerates everyone but loves only Tyranna Regina – the resident Diva and the keeper of his fish food. The mastiff puppy was told not to drink Spike’s water, and has since forgotten that Spike exists. Mastiff puppies do not have good memories.

9) What does your dog do to interfere with your writing?

Sometimes the puppy demands to be written into my stories. Puppy is our third mastiff, and the youngest one we’ve ever owned (the others were rescue dogs and older). Sadly, our Big Dog died suddenly this summer and there was a Dog-shaped hole in our lives. That sadness resulted in a scene in one of my books. Puppy’s arrival is also documented in the form of Bosco.

10) If you were going to write a paranormal or SF book about cats (assuming
you haven't already), would it be romance, mystery, thriller, or what? And
where would dogs and fish play a role in your fascinating, wonderful cat
world?

As I said, I am writing a series with cats as protagonists. It is a science-fiction book with romantic elements, and lots of gene engineering.

My favorite cat in that series is Ice, an 800-pound white tiger with a bad temper and killer blue eyes. He is friends with a fish (a shark to be precise) named Maggie, and winds up owning favors to a dog named Wolf (because I was bad at naming things that day). They go on adventures, save the universe a few times, and blow up way more than the budget allows for. They get yelled at.... Ice snarls, Maggie smiles, and Wolf sneakily does things in undisclosed locations.

Ice also knows a human child who he sometimes babysits, and one time he let her ride to school on his back because she was running later. Arriving to school riding a tiger makes an impression on the other kids at school. She was a lot more popular after that. But so is anyone who has cats who love them. J

Jody Wallace grew up in the South in a very rural area. She went to school a long time and ended up with a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing. Her resume includes college English instructor, technical documents editor, market analyst, web designer, and general all around pain in the butt.

She currently lives in Tennessee with her family: 1 husband, 2 kids, 2 cats. One of her many alter egos is “The Grammar Wench”, which should give you an indication of her character. She is a terrible packrat and likes to amass vintage clothing, books, Asian-inspired kitchenware, gnomes, yarn, and other items that threaten to force her family out of the house. She also likes cats. A lot.

Writing By Hand by Katie Lynn Daniels - a guest post

I have always had a strange method of writing drafts. Since I'm a complete and utter panster, I always write the first draft without any clue what's going to happen, and then use that as a road map for my second draft. As a result, my second draft tends to be completely new material, not a rewrite at all. Once I figured out that I didn't actually rewrite my first draft and consigned myself to drafting twice, my ability to get stuff done increased a great deal. 

My first draft of Loki died at 53K, a little over half done. I used it to write an outline that is almost as long as my published novellas. And then I made a decision I sincerely hoped I wouldn't regret--I'm writing Loki 2.0 completely by hand. 

There were several reasons why I wanted to write by hand. When I first started writing I wrote that way exclusively. When I switched to typing, I found that my handwritten stuff was, as a better rule, better quality. The second reason I wanted to write by hand was because I started working at a daycare where I get quite a bit of reading time in during naptime. If my work was analogue, I theorized, I could take it with me to work, on the bus, etc. The downsides included deciding handwriting was too much work, and not writing anything at all. There was also the rather large issue of trying to type it all up at the end. 

Another writer who had written both his novels by hand gave me the very good advice of typing it up as I went along, rather than doing it all at once, and this has worked out really well. It's a great activity to engage in while procrastinating on the actual writing part of the book. 

Writing by hand forces you to stop and think about what you're going to say before you say it. When working off of an outline this results in a smoother draft that needs less rewriting than haphazardly slapping down whatever words come to mind. It also results in having a beautiful handwritten manuscript you can brag about to your friends forever after. It's probably not a system I'll use when finishing my Supervillain of the Day series, but for something as special as this novel is turning out to be, it was the right choice. Since starting it at the beginning of the month it is over 13,000 typed words, and 117 handwritten pages.

If one were to list the pros and cons of handwriting it would fill a volume, and ultimately result in a draw. For many people it's simply not practical. A lot of people can't read their own handwriting--I'm often one of them. But if you're feeling stuck in the rut with your draft or wish you could write to a change of scenery without dragging a laptop along, writing by hand may be an option worth considering. 

Twitter: @authorkatielynn

Facebook.com/authorkatielynn

Blog: vaguelycircular.com

Loki nove: loki.wpthunder.com

ON WRITING MULTIPLE SERIES by Alex Bledsoe - a guest post

Book series abound, from the cookie-cutter Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, to John Updike’s literary “Rabbit” novels.  In fantasy, especially, the trend is to multi-book tales, stories that mimic Tolkein in being too big for one volume.  And I, like several contemporary authors, juggle more than one series, unrelated to each other and requiring completely different creative approaches. That can be challenging.

The easiest ones to write are my Eddie LaCrosse novels and stories.  Eddie is what’s known as a “sword Jockey,” essentially a private eye in a secondary-world fantasy.  Everything is written in his voice, first person, so there’s never any worry about the point of view.  He’s sarcastic, tough, but with a fierce sense of right and wrong, and he carries the weight of his past.  Those elements are the ones that readers expect, and I have no problem giving it to them.

The challenge, then, is in changing the things that aren’t part of those expectations.  For example, in the first novel, THE SWORD EDGED BLONDE, the story jumps in time to show parallel adventures of Eddie as both a young man and as the more mature character he becomes in the rest of the series.  It also globe-hops to several different locales.  In contrast, the second novel, BURN ME DEADLY, is a linear tale, set in one location.  The third novel, DARK JENNY, is almost entirely flashback, a story told over a cold winter’s evening.  WAKE OF THE BLOODY ANGEL is a pirate story, with all the accouterments of that genre.  And HE DRANK, AND SAW THE SPIDER is filled with riffs from the works of Shakespeare, mashed up in new (and hopefully entertaining) ways.

My other series, the Tufa novels, is based around a specific place, and a group of people rather than an individual.  There’s generally an outsider who comes in and shakes things up, and of course music plays a major part.  Since the same characters recur, a supporting character in one novel might be the protagonist of the next.  What remains the same are the mystery of these Tufa people, their origins, behavior and ultimate destiny, which runs like a thread through the more immediate stories.  Ideally, this helps build the sense of community, both for the characters and the readers.

The one thing both my series have in common, and this is very important to me, is accessibility.  As a reader, I’m always frustrated when I find book 2 or 3 of a series that looks interesting, but can’t be comprehended unless you’ve read the series from the beginning.  I want readers to be able to jump into my series at any point, so I make certain that each story is a stand-alone.  There are threads that, if you’ve read the other books, will give extra resonance, but I want the overall experience to be complete, whether it’s book 1 or book 15.

Every author approaches a series differently, and we’re all motivated by both our writing and our reading.  Whether you’re telling one long story, or a bunch of individual linked stories, it’s important to give your readers both what they expect, and at the same time throw them something new every time.



Alex Bledsoe is the author of the Eddie LaCrosse novels (The Sword-Edged Blonde, Burn Me Deadly, Dark Jenny, Wake of the Bloody Angel and He Drank, and Saw the Spider), the novels of the Memphis vampires (Blood Groove and The Girls with Games of Blood) and the Tufa novels (The Hum and the Shiver, Wisp of a Thing and the forthcoming Long Black Curl).   If you want to keep up with him in real time, follow him on Twitter,  Facebook, and/or Google+.  His blog is updated at least once a week.  

The Origin Story of Sheri Velarde (a guest post)

So often I am asked why I decided to become an author. The answer is I didn’t. Being an author just sort of happened. It started off by a deep love of reading. Like a deep love. Reading is and has been since I was a child one of my favorite things in the world to do. From there I started concocting my own stories in my head. Even as a kid I had a very active imagination and made up my own stories. Some were continuations of my favorite books, fanfiction I suppose before I even knew that it existed. Then in grade school we were asked to write and illustrate a short story. Game over from then on out. 

I started writing my own stories then. Mostly just for myself or for friends. This continued forever, writing stories to just give my imagination some time to fly. 

I was in my early thirties before I ever even thought about trying to publish on of my stories. I had mentioned to a new friend that I wrote stories and she begged to read some. I said okay and gave her a couple paranormal romances that I had written since I knew that was what she liked to read. She loved my stories. Loved them. She encouraged me to submit and I took the plunge. Both were picked up by two separate publishers. I was floored. 

After that I submitted a few more pieces and they got published too. Suddenly I was a published author and was not even sure how I got there. That was about four years ago. I am still writing every day. I have since published multiple stories and continue to have a career as an author. All because of a love for reading and imagination, and a good friend who gave me a gentle nudge in the right direction.

Sheri's latest book is LUST, SEX, and TATTOOS 

BUY IT NOW

Karen is a woman looking to make a new beginning after breaking away from an abusive past. Her

first stop is a tattoo shop, to show herself that she is no longer afraid to live her life the way she sees fit and to mark her freedom with a permanent reminder to never go back. When she catches sight of her tattoo artist, Ben, well she suddenly has things other than ink on her mind.

Ben is wild, free and uninhibited, everything that she wants to be and more. Soon she is left alone with the man that embodies her dreams and sparks begin to fly. It's safe to say that she gets way more than she bargained for when she originally stepped into his shop, as Ben helps her unleash her wild child and truly begin her life again. One wild night can truly change a woman forever.

Short Excerpt:

With measured steps to try to hide her nerves, Karen followed him through the curtains and down a hall lined with tattooing rooms. She could hear the needles more clearly now and for a moment she thought of running from the shop just to escape that unnerving sound. Taking a deep breath, she continued on, knowing she could, and would do this, to prove something to herself if nothing else. Ben's tattoo room was in the very back and away from the others who were working. She stepped in and he closed the door behind them. She was completely alone with the most alluring man she had ever met. She gulped. This was definitely going to be an interesting night.

Ben motioned for her to take a seat on the tattoo chair as he sat down on a rolling stool. "Hop on up and take your shirt off for me and lay on your side, facing me."

ABOUT SHERI: Sheri Velarde, lives in New Mexico with her husband and their two dogs.

Being an avid reader since an early age, she has wanted to be a writer for as long as she can remember. She has been writing all her life, but only recently started to actually try to pursue her dream of writing for a living. She specializes in all things paranormal and that go bump in the night. Her heart truly lies in exploring unknown worlds or adding the supernatural to our world. If it goes bump in the night or has magical connotations, Sheri writes about it.

She is constantly putting out new material with various publishers, so it is best to keep up with her on her website www.sherivelarde.weebly.com.

In her spare time Sheri is an artist, jewelry designer, independent comic writer/artist and freelance non-fiction writer. Hiking in the mountains, going to live concerts, art openings, museums, and hosting intimate dinner parties.

 Website | Facebook | Twitter

From NaNoWriMo to Published: The story of HIDDEN IN SEALSKIN by Thea van Diepen

I have a secret to tell you: Hidden in Sealskin was written during Camp NaNoWriMo.

I know, right? Who in their right minds would do something like that?

Well, besides me.

Surviving NaNo (with a First Draft to Show for It!)

The first time I did Camp NaNo (writing Hidden in Sealskin in 2012 was my second time), I’d used the experience to figure out my writing speed: 500 words per hour on a slow day, 1,000 per hour on a fast day. Thus, I knew how much time to dedicate each day to writing—3 hrs at most, 1.5 hrs at the least.

This calculation is vital for me, and also the reason I’ve only ever done Camp NaNo before this year. Trying to do university and work and NaNo in November would be too much, and I knew it because I had the numbers to prove it.

After that, it was a matter of writing every day.

This is where I let you in on another secret: I didn’t stay caught up the whole month.

The point, for me, wasn’t being perfectly on top of things. I knew that, some days, that simply wasn’t possible. So long as I made progress towards my destination every day and arrived there on time, it would work.

Like a race, the goal of NaNo is not to make each step utterly perfect, but to keep the end in mind and aim for that.

For me, that meant having an outline ahead of time, giving myself the time I needed to write each day, and catching up when I fell behind. Some people don’t need the first on that list, but the other two are essential. No-one is going to remind you to write each day. You have to do it yourself.

Which is what makes it so worth it.

Editing the Aftermath

The manuscript I was left with afterwards needed a lot of editing. Which freaked me out, so it wasn’t until this year that I actually got to it and didn’t stop until I was done.

Which is another point to keep in mind: stuff takes time. Don’t let that throw you.

Even if you’re a verified genius, your NaNo first draft will not be ready for publication as-is. With Hidden in Sealskin, I had to chop out chapters, characters, scenes, lines of dialogues—everything you could think that might get chopped got chopped. New things got added, too, like the beginning, the complete reworking of the end, several bits of worldbuilding, and a scene or two. This was all a Good Thing.

Why?

My first draft was rambly and unfocused. The edited version was tighter, cleaner, and the book I wanted, rather than almost the book I wanted.

Publishing the Result

When I was done, I sent the edited version to beta readers and a professional editor because, improved as it was, Hidden in Sealskin still had problems I knew I couldn’t see. And, since I self-published, I got to work at the rest of publication.

If you want to write a book, that’s one thing. Do NaNo, and you’ll have written a book. Maybe edit it, if you want. If you want to publish, though, there’s a few more steps.

Since I take this self-publishing-is-a-business thing seriously, I hired a cover designer to make sure the cover was gorgeous (and it is!). I also brushed up on formatting and typography to make sure that Hidden in Sealskin looked good enough that you didn’t notice and just enjoyed the read.

After I’d tested/proofed/dealt with everything I could see to be dealt with, Hidden in Sealskin went live. Granted, I still ended up selling a few copies from the future, but that only goes to show that being professional ≠ being perfect. It just means you know the standards and you work to hit or surpass them. And, if when you make a mistake, you fix it.

You can't edit a blank page, but you can fix it. You do that by filling it.

Which is what NaNo is for.

So let’s get going. :)

Hidden in Sealskin is the story of Adren, an outlaw who hates humans, as she sets out to steal a sealskin in exchange for a cure for her insane unicorn. Matters are complicated by Nadin, the awkward teenager who insists on helping and who Adren isn't sure she can trust, the mystery surrounding the sealskin, and the awakening secrets of Adren's mind.

Here's to hoping no one gets in the way.

From Short Story to NaNoWriMo to Publication - a guest post by John Ayliff

Note From Liana: Continuing with our NaNo prep we have another author who turned his NaNoWriMo project into a novel that was published this summer by HarperCollins. If you're inspired to try NaNo yourself please check out NaNoWriMo Boot Camp. If you're looking for the Page Curl Halloween Hop (or just want free stuff) you can go HERE.

I began writing what eventually became my first novel in summer 2009. At the time I'd written a few short stories, and even had a couple published in non-paying markets, but I'd never completed a novel. I thought of myself as a short story writer rather than a novelist.

Someone in my writing group shared an anthology call-for-submissions for stories about female pirates. I didn't usually write stories based on prompts, but I found I had an idea for story called Belt Three, about a space pirate in a setting in which the planets had been destroyed by alien robots. The story would be told from the point of view of someone the pirate kidnaps, and we'd see that she was using her piracy to fund a personal crusade against the aliens.

The anthology politely rejected the story, saying that the focus wasn't sufficiently on the female pirate character. (Which was fair--the prisoner I'd intended just as a point-of-view character had ended up being co-protagonist.) Meanwhile, several members of my writing group gave the same feedback: that it didn't read like a short story so much as the start of a novel.

I'd already been introduced to my local NaNoWriMo community and was thinking of taking the plunge that year. Based on the feedback on my short story, I decided to make that my NaNo project: treat the short story as the start of a novel and extend it by 50,000 words.

I started November with the first couple of chapters already written (but not counting these towards the word count I needed to reach), and only a vague plan. I took my space pirate and her prisoner and sent them on a quest for a macguffin, and came up with some antagonists to chase them. There was all the usual NaNo-novel ridiculousness: a character with a verbal tic specifically designed to increase my word count, a scene in which I lovingly described a meal because I was hungry when I wrote it, characters named after snacks I was eating while I wrote, scenes that ended abruptly with [Add more here]. Turning off the inner editor in order to write 1666 words every day comes more easily to some writers than others, and I'm one of the ones for whom it's difficult. But I kept at it, spent a lot of time in the public library, drank a lot of coffee, and eventually succeeded. Not a finished novel, but 50,000 words of more-or-less coherent text.

I spent the next couple of months writing at a slower pace until I'd got an ending, bringing my total
up to about 80,000 words, and then the next couple of years revising. And by revising, I mean I threw out the NaNoWriMo draft and started from scratch. The very approximate story structure is the same, but the details and all the actual text are new. But I couldn't have written that new, decent novel without having written the NaNoWriMo draft first.

After several rewrites, I eventually had a novel I thought was good enough to publish. It was rejected by a few agents, and then I saw that Harper Voyager had an open submissions window for unagented manuscripts, and sent it directly to them. And, a few months later, I was astonished to receive an email saying that Harper Voyager wanted to publish the novel! Belt Three came out in June 2015, six years after I wrote the original short story.

NaNoWriMo is more helpful for some writers than for others, and it might be more helpful at some places in your writing career than others. Back in 2009 I was in exactly the right place for it: I had an idea that I thought was novel-worthy, but I'd never written a novel-length work before and needed to prove to myself that I could. In the years since then I was mostly too busy revising Belt Three or working on other projects to stop for NaNoWriMo. This year, though, I find I'm in a place where a bit of peer pressure to get a terrible first draft out quickly is exactly what I need, so I've signed up for NaNoWriMo again. If it's the right thing for you this year, I hope you'll join me!

John's Website | Amazon Page | Twitter |  Facebook

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From NaNoWriMo to Published - a guest post by Jayne Fury

Note From Liana - this is part of an ongoing series of articles from authors who have "won" National Novel Writing Month, polished their books, and pushed them to publication through one method or another. Jayne Fury is a sci-fi romance author who has serialized her NaNo novel. 

It’s been two years  since I “won” NaNoWriMo by writing the draft of FREEDOM BOUND. With the naïveté of an ingenue, I thought the hard part was done. Nope. Not by a parsec.

Let's back up. What finally got me to sit down for the entire month of November to write a novel? A long walk. In Spring of 2013 I walked the ancient trail of the Camino De Santiago from Léon to Santiago de Campostela. The lessons learned on the Way carry me forward daily. Lesson One: Take one step at a time.

After I finished  the long slog through November 2013's NaNoWriMo, I was left with a load of mush. I thought it would need a little editing. As a newborn writer I was completely unaware of what lay ahead. Like every newborn enamored with each new discovery, I cooed at my poo and thought myself a mother-loving genius.

You see, I've been writing cooperative fanfic writing for over twenty years. Words? That wasn't the tough bit. I could shoot out words. I often produced several thousand words  a day for both my marcom business and the fanfic hobby. I led stories, prodded people for their parts, critiqued, and gave constructive feedback. But I had only ever been given positive feedback for my writing. I had never done an entire story on my own. Nobody had even told me how to improve. As a writer, I needed to grow into an author. Now that I had a manuscript. What came next?

First you leave the manuscript alone for a month or two. Then, you read it. What happens next? The five stages of grief come to mind. Denial was a doozy. Scotch is the sovereign remedy.

After a first pass of edit it was time to let someone else read it. Enter the Beta readers. The next step was to send it to someone else to read and give feedback.  A friend of mine was Beta reading for another author for several years so I asked, she agreed and I sent the draft. The feedback was positive with excellent input. I set about the second rewrite. I thought, "Done!" Yay?

Remember those grief stages? Depression came and sucked me in. The fear of not being good enough. Not knowing what to do next. Where to turn to to publish. How was I going to get this book and my name above the noise?

Help and advise came from my local RWA group's membership. Many of the members are traditionally published and were also self publishing their back catalogs. Indies and indie publishing being embraced by the Romance community drew my focus. I decided to investigate. The more I did, the more I saw a fertile publishing platform for SciFiRomance. The more I thought about it, the more I realized self publishing was a perfect fit. I had a background in Marketing. And I already knew how to write marcom, brand, and play with Google algorithms because I had been running my own business for several years promoting others. Why not take myself on as a client?

I took a workshop on book covers led by a member of my local RWA group, Anthea Sharp, who was already well on her indie journey. Marie Force, a pioneer and giant in indie publishing was running a short online class about self publishing. I took that. When I found conferences like UnCon, a gathering of indie writers sponsored by Marie Force, and IndieReCon, an online resource for independent self publishing authors, I attended. I hit all the writing panels at my local conventions and networked with indie publishers, sought mentors, and read books on indie publishing. I became a sponge.

In the midst of all of this, my bestie and brilliant co-shennanigator, Melanie Greatheart, was quietly watching and supporting me on my journey. In true form, throwing caution to the wind, she cannonballed into the deep end serial publishing her paranormal western, DEADMAN BALLAD.  That shook me up. I realized I was procrastinating. It was me holding myself back. Somewhere along the way I had stopped going forward.  But, I had all the tools, I just needed to get out there.

Remember those stages of grief?

Acceptance. I wasn't walking out into the unknown. I was already on the walk. My Camino, my walk in publishing, started the day I decided to begin my outline. I had a map. I had a destination. I had a backpack full of tools and there was plenty of pubs along the way filled with smiling faces and experiences. I was stuck. It was time to get going again. Spurred on by Mel's Western (see what I did there?), last month I began to self publish the first novel in the Solar Flame series.  My 2013 NaNoWrimo novel, FREEDOM BOUND began release in October 2015, in episodic serial format to maximize visibility.

Whatever is ahead, life is constant forward momentum. Don't stop writing on November 30. Ultreia!

Jayne Fury is a SCIFIROM author who writes pulpy serials about bodice ripping ninjas in space. She lives on her urban farm in the Pacific Northwest with her three cats, five chickens and extremely tolerant husband. If asked, she will deny that she's creating nest in her office out of old socks and wooly pooffs. She is also a performer in Tacoma's one and only Ukulele Sing-a-long Circus. Her current project FREEDOM BOUND  is currently publishing on Amazon.com

Links:

www.jaynefury.com 

Twit: @JayneFury 

Goodreads: Jayne Fury Facebook 

Fan Page: facebook.com/JayneFury

From NaNoWriMo to Published - a guest post from Sherry Ramsey

Note from Liana: Continuing our series of authors who took their NaNo dreams to published books we have guest blogger Sherry D. Ramsey talking about ugly first drafts and beautifully finished books.

One doesn’t have to look very far on the Internet to find complaints that National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo to the initiated) does little but provide a lot of terrible fodder for editors’ and agents’ slush piles. Now, it may be true that a small percentage of “winners” (participants who write 50k+ words of their novel in the month of November) submit those first drafts in the futile hope and expectation that they will be met with open arms. I think, however, that most people—certainly anyone serious about writing & publishing—recognize that the best you can come out of NaNoWriMo with is a first draft that still needs a lot of work.

I’ve participated in NaNoWriMo every year since 2002. I’ve written 50k+ words every one of those years. I’ve typed “The End” some years; I’ve made it maybe halfway there others (getting to the end is better!). And four of those novels are published—three by traditional publishers and one by myself. So that’s four out of thirteen; what’s wrong with the other eleven? It’s simple: they’re just not done yet. Because when I said “a lot of work,” I meant it.

Let’s just admit it: first drafts are generally terrible. There’s a Karen Joy Fowler quote I keep pasted up near my computer to remind me of this. In an essay about her story “Lily Red” in the anthology Paragons, she said “I do not save my first drafts. They are too stupid to live. My motto: The brain is not a pretty organ. Never show anyone yours.”

I keep this quote handy to remind me that it’s okay—even expected—for first drafts to be terrible. I’m not sure how I’d be able to write anything at all if I didn’t believe this. And I think for most of us, it doesn’t matter if we write those first drafts in thirty days or five years, they’re still going to be, if not terrible, certainly unfinished. They’re raw material. They’re just a start. But the wonderful thing about a first draft is that, no matter what kind of a mess it is, you can make it better.

That’s where the work comes in.

My first published NaNoWriMo novel took ten years from first draft to publication draft. Now, that sounds like a long time, but of course I wasn’t actively working on it all that time. There can be a lot of waiting time in publishing. I wrote a second draft based on feedback from friends and family, and submitted that draft to a regional competition for unpublished manuscripts. After almost a year in that process, it took second place, and with the feedback I received from that, I wrote a third draft. That went to a publisher, for whom I eventually wrote a fourth draft. For another publisher I wrote a fifth draft—and that one was published.

For the self-published novel, I didn’t cut myself any slack. I decided to self-publish because it’s a quirky novel of mashed-up genres, and I thought it would be challenging to find it a niche in the traditional publishing world. But I used the same process: I started with feedback from my trusted readers and wrote a new draft. I asked for input on that and wrote another one. I revised. I line-edited. I let someone else read it. I didn’t let the final version go out without more input from people whose opinions and expertise I trusted.

So that’s the kind of thing I mean when I say “a lot of work,” and it’s gone into every word that I’ve published. Input from trusted readers, other writers, editors and people in the industry. Rewriting. Multiple drafts. Fixing, tweaking, adding, subtracting, refining. Editing. Polishing. A much more significant time investment than the thirty days it took me to write the first draft. No, it doesn’t have to take ten years, and as with anything, you improve with practice. I write much cleaner first drafts now than I did ten years ago. They’re still terrible. But they’re not as terrible. So maybe now I can write three drafts instead of five. The rewrites are simpler. There’s less line-editing.

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you in detail how you should do this work. I can only tell you that it’s a necessary part of a good novel. There are as many ways to write a good novel as there are writers. We discover the process and tools that work best for us through a long period of trial and error, and I think it’s essential to be always asking questions that can help us improve. Make an outline or not? Join a local or online writing community? Who makes a good trusted reader? What can we learn from courses and workshops? Can we write more effectively with a particular software? How much can we do ourselves, and where do we need outside help? Whatever the answers, the first step is accepting the work that needs to be done.

But all that comes later. This is the power of NaNoWriMo: first drafts should be fun. They’re where your brain comes out to play, in all its exuberant, messy, imaginative glory. They’re where you create, where you bring something new into the world that wasn’t there before. They may be terrible, but they have potential.

And the work that later goes into realizing that potential? It may be more demanding than that flash of first draft exhilaration, but it’s not all dark drudgery. Whatever it takes, it’s worth it in the end. Because seeing that terrible first draft turn into something that readers will love—well, isn’t that really why we sit down to write in the first place? 

* * *

Sherry is the author of ONE'S ASPECT TO THE SUN, THE MURDER PROPHET, THE SEVENTH CROW, and DARK BENEATH THE MOON. 

From NaNoWriMo to Twitter to Published! - a guest post by DJ Davis

Note from Liana: November is National Novel Writing Month. Several of my books started as NaNo projects. THE DAY BEFORE wasn't, but it was written NaNo-style one crazy February, and I love the idea of a fast first draft. You can't edit a blank page! To help persuade those who are sitting on the fence debating the merits of NaNo I've invited several published authors to share their experience at taking a book from the 50,000-words-in-a-month challenge of NaNo to finished product on the shelf. Our first guest is crime write DJ Davis. 

On November 1, 2013, I sat down at my computer for my third year of NaNoWriMo. I had a blank screen and a goal to write 50,000 words in thirty days. As a confirmed “pantser” I had no plan. I wanted to write about a dog, I knew that much. And I had a title in mind, Courageous Cain. That was it, the big plan. A dog story.

Thirty days. That’s 1,666.666 words a day. Okay, maybe it’s better not to think about all those sixes. I didn’t write every day. I’m human. I have a job. I need a break sometimes. I also have bouts of insomnia so I wrote a lot at night. But I made it, and then some. At the end of the month I had over 70,000 words. I also had a manuscript that was taking on a life of its own. I kept up my November writing pace for another six weeks until I came to those two magical words, “The End.” What a feeling!

So now I had a 130,000 word… mess. A first draft mess. This was my first manuscript which showed any real promise and I found myself deep in the jungle of revision and editing. My best writing buddy and critique partner (Trace, know you who you are!) helped tremendously. What a job that was! After seven months I offered it to other test readers and they liked it, too. So I began learning how to write query letters.

I started slowly and queried a dozen agents over the next two months. I received a few nice rejections, some form rejections and that was it. Then one day I heard about a book pitching event on Twitter called Pitmad which was founded by Brenda Drake.

Outside of having some fun on Facebook, social media isn’t my strong point at all. Pitmad was to be held on September 9, 2014, just a couple days away. I had never been on Twitter, but I wanted to give it a try, so I signed up. My first tweets were pitches for pitmad. Two were favorited, which meant somebody was interested in my story! One was an agent and one was an ebook publisher, Champagne Books. I sent the required query to both. The agent kindly rejected me. The publisher wanted to see my manuscript. While they were reading it I was researching them and found nothing but good things.

Champagne Books offered me a contract. My first finished manuscript had a publisher and I was in writerly heaven! It was like having a new family. Everyone was warm and welcoming and I was honored to join such talented authors. I was handed over to an editor, the wonderful Nikki Andrews. She made spot-on suggestions and corrections that improved the book and my skills all the while coaching a newbie to the ebook publishing world.

My debut novel, COURAGEOUS CAIN, was released on September 7, 2015. Nearly two years from that first day of November when I sat down to a blank screen and blinking cursor. I’m now learning how to promote an ebook, another step on this amazing journey.

I’m still a beginner, honing my skills and finding my style. I won last year’s NaNoWriMo and again spent months (though not quite as many as I was more prepared with a three sentence premise) editing my story. I think it has a future. I’m excited for this year’s November madness. This time I’m going in with a simple outline. I hope to see you there.

TAKEN IDENTITY by Raven McAllan

A special weekend treat! The fabulous Raven McAllan is taking over the blog to talk about her new romantic suspense novel TAKE IDENTITY!

Thank you so much for inviting me onto your blog, to show you a little of Taken Identity.

Taken Identity was so much fun to write. Yes, I know, I say that all the time, but I enjoy writing, and love adding humour to my stories.

However I also like to try to do a bit if 'what if' in my stories.

This what if is…

What if someone turns up on your doorstep looking for someone one with the same name.

Okay, not too much of a coincidence I guess especially if you're John or Joan Smith. But with the same description, and same job?

Then it gets a wee bit worrying.

So what would you do?

The blurb says it all…

What do you do when someone steals your identity?
Find out why of course. 
When a hot, to die for man appears on your doorstep demanding his wife, who it seems has your name and your life, you need to find out what’s going on.
Gray Reynard thought he’d found his wife, instead he found Jules. Who would have been more than happy to be found by him under any other circumstances.

It seemed someone had pointed him to Jules as a red herring, and like all old fish, the whole thing stunk. 

They both needed to know what was happening and why so they could move on. Would it be together or apart?

I was more than happy when my muse informed me that this story was set in my neck of the woods. It's one thing I try to do with everything I write. Set them somewhere I know and love.

Excerpt:

“Is this the residence of Julia Frayne?”

Whoever said a tone of voice couldn’t shatter glass was wrong. Very, very, wrong. This one could, and it sent shivers down Julia’s spine. Shivers of the, ‘Oh no, this is not good,’ kind.

Julia—known to all and sundry as Jules—looked at the questioner closely. It was a pity he was a blur. She’d been about to put her contacts in when the doorbell rang, and she hadn’t stopped to pick up her specs before answering.

“So, is this the residence of Julia Frayne?” His tone was tinged with annoyance. “For goodness’ sake, woman, it’s not a trick question. A simple yes or no will suffice.”

He—she assumed it was a he by the deep voice—was distinctly hazy, although from what she could see, there was a tall, drop-dead gorgeous man on her doorstep. Her body tingled. “Why?” she asked. She hated the defensive tone in her voice, but she had no idea who her questioner was, and she was too wary of all the horror stories around to give out information freely. “Who wants to know?”

He stared at her and didn’t answer. That made Jules grit her teeth. If there was one thing guaranteed to get her riled, it was an arrogant, up his own ass man, who ignored something so important as a question like that. Information was a two-way street. She groped around on the shelf by the front door and took hold of her rape alarm. When you lived out in the country, it paid to be careful.

And who didn’t always remember to put the chain on, eh?

Next to it was a spray bottle of water then one of deodorant. A step-by-step disable kit, as Miss McMurty, her next-door neighbor said, just in case. Miss M didn’t specify what case she had in mind, but as she loved Miss M, Jules made sure her homemade alarm kit was always handy. Now she might be glad of it.

“Please tell Ms. Frayne I wish to speak with her.” He invested the Ms. with all the disdain his patrician voice could enunciate.

“Tell her, Mr.—?”

“Reynard.”

Jules waited, but he obviously wasn’t going to expand his stark statement. What was it with tall, dark men trying to be macho? Okay, she admitted he didn’t need to try very hard. Over six feet of what seemed—even to her un-lensed eyes—to be perfectly proportioned male, whose short, dark hair showed just a hint of curl. And those eyes, oh, those eyes. She’d bet they were deep, dark and what Miss M would call enigmatic, they screamed macho without any effort. It still made her want to stamp on his toe to see if he squealed.

Jules swallowed. He was every woman’s fantasy—or nightmare—depending on how you looked at it.
She didn’t want to look at it—or him—and either way, until she put her contacts in, there wasn’t much chance of that happening. Her stomach did a flip and her skin crawled in a positively uncomfortable manner. All her instincts were screaming trouble as loud as possible.

She could feel his impatience. It hit her like a winter wind. Cold and unfriendly, it bombarded her with slivers of icy annoyance and a shiver ran down her spine. 

https://www.totallybound.com/taken-identity

Raven lives in Scotland, along with her husband and their two cats—their children having flown the nest—surrounded by beautiful scenery, which inspires a lot of the settings in her books.

She is used to sharing her life with the occasional deer, red squirrel, and lost tourist, to say nothing of the scourge of Scotland—the midge.

Her very understanding, and long-suffering DH, is used to his questions unanswered, the dust bunnies greeting him as he walks through the door, and rescuing burned offerings from the Aga. (And passing her a glass of wine as she types furiously.)

If you want to find out more about me and my books…
www.ravenmcallan.com

Happy Reading,

Love R x